Vehicles may incorporate and utilize numerous aids to assist the operator. For example, lane departure, collision avoidance, rear and side imaging systems inform and alert the driver to conditions around and about the vehicle as it is operated and under certain circumstances actively intervene in the operation of the vehicle. Anti-lock braking, stability control, adaptive speed control may also actively intervene in the control and operation of the vehicle, often in the background and transparent to the operator. Optimization of these vehicle operating, alert and information systems while the vehicle is engaged to tow a trailer requires accurate, real time information of the trailer pose, i.e., the angle of the trailer relative to the towing vehicle and length of the trailer.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and systems to determine trailer pose in real time. Furthermore, the system and methods should require a minimum amount of operator intervention and data entry to configure and calibrate. To reduce complexity and cost, the systems and methods should utilize existing vehicle systems and devices, such as for example, imaging, parking assist and other such systems. Other desirable features and characteristics of the herein described embodiments will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.